Before You Go
by wrappedinflowers
Summary: Slightly AU Future fic. Kurt and Blaine meet for the first time in an Oncology ward, Blaine a visitor and Kurt a patient.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: I should warn you that this is going to be a bit heavy. Also, I'm not sure how regular updates are going to be, but I'm really going to try for once a week. **

**Thanks to anyone who reads this! 3**

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><p>"Hi, I'm Kurt."<p>

There it is. The sentence that started it all. This one phrase, just three syllables, set the ball in motion.

"Blaine."

It all started in the Oncology ward of the hospital. Two boys, there for two very different reasons, that just so happened to choose plastic chairs next to each other.

"Who are you visiting?" asked the shorter one with the gelled, spiraling, dark brown hair.

"I'm actually a patient." The smaller, pixie-like, boy stared into nothing, trying to keep and air of confidence in his voice. "Tumor in my stomach. I'm going to have a full recovery of course. At least that's what the doctors say."

Blaine could tell by Kurt wasn't exactly as sure as he tried to seem, but ignored it. "Oh. I'm so sorry. It must be hard for you... I'm just here to see my grandmother. I barely even know her." He said meekly.

It's strange, the feeling of guilt that you could get from simply being healthy.

"Must be nice." Kurt reached up, stroking his own hair. "I'm starting chemotherapy today. Can you believe it? All that time spent perfecting my hair, just for it to disappear."

Blaine had never been one to empathize with people. He'd never been able to really care about anyone else's pain, as horrible as that sounds. He figures its some kind of defense mechanism and that, if he was really interested in knowing the cause, a therapist could probably relate it to some traumatic childhood experience relating to his father. The boy in front of him though, this fragile, vulnerable, yet strangely confident boy, somehow manages to tear at the strings knotted together guarding Blaine Anderson from normal

human emotion.

The way Kurt laughs, an empty chuckle that barely disguises the tremors in his voice, causes a sharp stab of something unfamiliar to travel straight to Blaine's heart. Without realizing it Blaine's hand ends up clasping Kurt's. Kurt looks at him with piercing blue eyes, startled, as if he was moments away from jerking away. Instead he relaxed and let his fingers curl around the other boy's.

They hardly knew each other, but it didn't seem to matter. They sat in silence for a while, with Blaine faintly tracing circles over the impossibly soft skin stretched over Kurt's hand.

"Where do you think you go when you die?" Kurt asked abruptly, looking away from him.

Blaine wasn't exactly prepared for this question. Where did you go when it was all over? Was there a palace in the sky built out of marble and gold where pain couldn't touch you, or did it end with your body lowered into the ground, dark, cold, and alone?

"I'm not so sure about the rest of us... but there has to be a special place for you, Kurt."

He wasn't sure why he said it, but then again he wasn't exactly sure why he hadn't politely excused himself moments ago, before it got so... deep. Whatever the reason, he couldn't leave now.

"There are so many things I haven't done."

Blaine peered at the boy next to him and watched helplessly as a single tear slid down his cheek. Kurt's face did not crumple, in fact he continued to stare straight ahead into nothingness, as if he hadn't noticed the sudden dampness on his cheek.

Blaine had no idea what to do. How would he feel, if he were Kurt? They seem to be around the same age, Kurt was probably only 21 or 22. That would mean there's a whole lifetime of living that Kurt would never get to experience. If this didn't work, if the Chemo failed, Kurt would die before most people got the chance to actually live. It wasn't fair.

"Kurt? Do you maybe want to get coffee sometime?"

Kurt gave him a weak smile.

"I'm going to be sick, Blaine. By the end of the week I'll be throwing up constantly and soon i'll be losing my hair. You can't possibly be interested in that. It's a nice gesture, but I really don't want anyone to take pity on me."

"I'm not- I'm not doing this out if pity." Okay, so maybe he was, just a little. "Come on, just once. Tomorrow. You won't be sick by then, will you?"

Kurt took a long look at Blaine, as if he was some sort of intricate math problem he didn't quite understand. Eventually he sighed.

"How about this: I'll give you my number today and tomorrow you can call me. If I'm feeling up to it we can go get coffee, but you're paying."

"Okay!" Blaine's face broke into a grin and Kurt pulled his hand away to rummage through his bag, probably looking for something to write with. He pulled out a pen and a scrap price of paper and scratched down his number handing it to Blaine just before Kurt was called away by a plump, frazzled looking nurse.

"I'll see you," Blaine called as Kurt strode away from him.

Kurt paused and turned, flashing Blaine the most heartbreaking smile.

"Yeah. I'll see you."


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Wow! Thanks so much for the Reviews/Favorites/Alerts! You guys are great. **

**I forgot this yesterday, but I should say that I own nothing.**

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><p>It turns out that the next day Kurt is feeling well enough, so he and Blaine go to the Lima Bean for coffee. They make polite conversation, and Blaine makes sure to file away each little piece of information as if he'd be quizzed on it later. They have some things in common-like their love of song, theatre, and a need to have clothes they can't afford- but mostly they are polar opposites. Blaine can't resist a ball game while Kurt can't resist a Disney movie, Kurt loves anything French while Blaine can barely handle the English language, and, most importantly, Kurt radiates energy – he practically glows- while Blaine is more reserved and quiet.<p>

One date turns into two, and before either of them know it, they're inseparable. Kurt does, eventually, get too sick to leave home, but even then Blaine is with him. They stay in Kurt's small apartment and most of the time Blaine's just comforting Kurt through the pain and bringing him moist towels after particularly bad vomiting spells. Even after Blaine's gone home at night he keeps his phone close, just in case Kurt can't sleep and he needs someone to talk to.

Other times, when Kurt's feeling alright, he and Blaine sit on the couch and just talk. Kurt would tell him stories of old times, like when his high school Glee Club won Nationals or when he switched school because he was being bullied, only to return a few months later. He'd even ended up dating one of his tormentors for a few months. Blaine in turn told Kurt of his crazy teenage years back in Florida, where he lived before coming two Ohio his Senior Year. Most of the stories ended with Blaine grounded or injured. Kurt especially liked the story of him trying to water-ski on a lawn chair.

At the start of this whole thing Blaine had told himself not to let himself get too attached, it was only supposed to be one coffee date after all. It just be a nice gesture, just a favor to a boy who really needed to be cheered up. At least that's what he kept telling himself. The truth was, after getting to know him, Blaine really liked Kurt, and that scared him. It seemed like his whole life he'd been working to build up this intricate defense system against anything that could potentially hurt him, and Kurt saw right through it.

For a while Blaine told himself that it didn't matter. He could allow himself to be with Kurt without it turning into a serious thing. It could be just like dating in high school, temporary and fun, nothing serious.

He convinced himself of this for almost a week.

"Blaine?"

They were sitting in Kurt's living room watching old reruns of Will & Grace on Lifetime. Kurt was half laying on the couch, legs stretched across Blaine's. Blaine was wondering if it would be acceptable to give Kurt a foot massage when his name was called.

"Hmm?" He looked up. "Kurt wha-"

In Kurt's hand was a small clump of hair.

"Blaine I…" Kurt's sentence trailed off and he just stared at the brown locks curled in his fingers. The look on his face made Blaine feel as if someone had punched him in the stomach.

"Kurt, hey, it's okay." Blaine pulled Kurt to him, wrapped him up into his arms as if he were a child. Silent tears were already streaming down Kurt's face and his shoulders were shaking. Blaine just held him and whispered that it would be okay, that everything would be alright. It was only hair, but he knew that to Kurt losing it meant so much more than a few months of wearing hats. It meant losing control, losing the one thing that made him feel normal.

It wasn't fair that this was happening to Kurt. Kurt was such a wonderful person and he'd never do anything to hurt anyone. He shouldn't have to deal with something like this.

"I am so sorry, Kurt." Blaine said when the sobs turned into small whimpers.

"Just… hold me, Blaine. Can you just hold me for a little bit?"

Blaine nodded and tucked Kurt's head under his chin. He couldn't really put a name on the things he was feeling at that moment; it was a mixture between guilt, the need to protect, and the urge to take Kurt's face into his hands and press their lips together. Whatever doubts he was having earlier were gone and replaced with one absolute truth: No matter what, he could not lose Kurt.

It looked like this would be a very serious relationship after all.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: I apologize for the poor quality of this update. I'm having a serious case of writer's block. I want to thank KiKiKaKes for the idea for this chapter,and also all of you lovely readers for the great reviews and favorites.**

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><p>Kurt's hair was gone. It hadn't been a huge surprise to Blaine, he knew that eventually he would shave it or that it would all fall out, but he thought Kurt would have at least told him before taking clippers to his own head.<p>

"Don't." was the first thing Kurt said when Blaine saw him. "Don't say anything. I know, it looks terrible."

"It doesn't look terrible." Blaine gave Kurt a reassuring smile and kissed the crown of his now hairless head. "You're beautiful."

"Don't lie to me."

"Kurt, I'm not…"

Kurt just shook his head and buried his face in Blaine's chest. Blaine felt tears seeping through the thin material of his shirt and sighed. He wished that every once and a while he and Kurt could have a normal, happy, date instead of everything being emotional and complicated. It wasn't that he blamed Kurt, that wasn't it at all, he just wasn't used to all of… this.

"Kurt, it's okay," he said, leading Kurt over to the couch.

"It's not. I hate this. I used to be so happy, Blaine, and now all I do is sit in this house crying- either from the pain or from self-pity. I was headed to Broadway; I was going to be someone. But now I'm stuck and I might never get the chance to do anything I've been dreaming of doing my whole life."

"I know. I know it's hard, but I promise you, Kurt, you are still going to be someone. I won't let I know it's hard, but I promise you, Kurt, you are still going to be someone. I won't let anything happen to you before you get to sing in front of a massive crowd of adoring fans. I promise you."

Blaine touched his forehead to Kurt's, causing their noses to touch.

"Nothing is going to happen to you Kurt, okay?"

Kurt nodded and gave Blaine a weak smile. "Kay."

"So, what to do you want to do?" He changed the subject- he was good at that. "I rented Chicago, it's my favorite. We could watch that."

"Really? I always thought the puppet scene was creepy."

"That's my favorite part!" He stared at Kurt, mouth open slightly in a look of mock offense. Kurt just shoved him.

"Oh, shut up. Are you going to put the movie in or what?"

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><p>The movie lasted only about two hours-of which Blaine used to watch Kurt out of the corner of his eye (he was never one to enjoy romantic comedies). Even if Blaine had tried to pat attention to the movie, he's sure that Kurt would have distracted him anyway. Throughout the film Kurt would use the hand not intertwined in Blaine's to run his fingers over the newly exposed skin. It got so bad that Blaine had to reach over and grab both hands, not that he exactly minded the hand holding.<p>

After it was over Blaine leaned over and again pecked the top of his head.

"You know, it's not really that bad. It's starting to grow on me. Well, not grow exactly-"

Kurt rolled his eyes and Blaine clamped his mouth shut, blushing.

"You're not really good at this, are you?"

Blaine smirked. "Honestly, no."

"That's okay," Kurt scooted closer and leaned into Blaine's chest, "I like you anyway."

"Good." Blaine protectively wrapped his arms around Kurt, almost instinctually. A few minutes passed before he mustered up the courage to ask, "Kurt?"

"Yeah?"

"I was thinking... Maybe I should shave my head too."

A look of "Are you insane?" crossed Kurt's face.

"No, don't look at me like that. I want to support you. I- I love you and I should be there for you. If that means shaving my head, then so be it."

"You love me?"

"Yes."

Kurt's eyes softened for a second before his face switched back into stern school teacher mode. "No, absolutely not. You're not shaving your head Blaine."

"I swear it won't be a problem. I want to."

"No."

Blaine just shook his head and pulled Kurt tighter. No matter what he said, Blaine wouldn't win. He decided to drop it, knowing full well that he would still be making a trip to the barber that weekend. "Fine."

Seemingly satisfied, Kurt nuzzled his shoulder. Blaine let out a happy sigh and allowed his eyes to close; he knew both of them would wake up sore if they fell asleep in this position, but he didn't really mind. It was nice, just getting to hold Kurt, and he wouldn't ruin the moment by re-situating himself.

They laid there for a while until Blaine finally felt sleep pulling him into unconsciousness. He swore that just before he fell asleep he heard the hush of a whispered "I love you, too" against his neck.


End file.
